Written by

Tight end Jermichael Finley’s 52-yard catch-and-run on third-and-3 from the Green Bay Packers’ 27-yard line with 1 minute, 53 seconds left in the game essentially ended any hope the Baltimore Ravens had of winning on Sunday.

The host Ravens had just cut the Packers’ lead to 19-17 and the M&T Bank Stadium crowd was coming to life, sensing a come-from-behind victory.

But quarterback Aaron Rodgers found Finley over the middle and the sixth-year veteran rumbled deep into Baltimore territory before going out of bounds and stopping the clock – not exactly a textbook way to end a clock-killing drive.

Rodgers talked about the play in the postgame news conference:

“I was about 99 percent going to Jermichael on that one — I just actually told him that,” Rodgers said. “It was a play where he’s got kind of a runaway. We had man coverage, they rushed five, I told Eddie (Lacy) to stay in. We had a two-receiver route to the front side and Jarrett (Boykin) was running a quick option to the left. I wanted to give Jermichael a chance. I had Jermichael and Jordy (Nelson) to my right. J-Mike ran a great route — unfortunately ran out of bounds — but it gave Eddie a chance to finish it off. I’m really proud of Jermichael sticking with it. Didn’t get a lot of opportunities today but when we had to have a play, he made one.”

With receivers Randall Cobb and James Jones suffering injuries on Sunday, more opportunities are likely coming Finley’s way.